Color mixing from different light sources

ABSTRACT

A color mixing light system comprises a pyramidal mirror assembly comprising three or more mirrors constructed and arranged in a pyramid structure and three or more color light sources. The pyramidal mirror assembly divides the light beams from the color light sources so that a first portion is reflected by the mirrors and a second portion extends beyond the mirrors to collectively form a multicolor pattern comprising plurality of overlapping color regions on a surface.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/961,412, entitled “Color Mixing From DifferentLight Sources”, filed on Jul. 10, 2020, United States Publication NumberUS 2020/0355346 A1, published Nov. 12, 2020, which is a U.S. NationalStage entry of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2019/014145,filed Jan. 18, 2019, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/618,842 filed on Jan. 18, 2018, entitled “LightControl Systems and Methods,” U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/661,001 filed on Apr. 21, 2018, entitled “Light Control Systems andMethods,” U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/677,188 filed onMay 29, 2018, entitled “Light Control Systems and Methods,” U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/715,246 filed on Aug. 6, 2018,entitled “Light Control Systems and Methods,” U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/768,072 filed on Nov. 15, 2018, entitled “LightControl Systems and Methods,” and U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 62/784,367 filed on Dec. 21, 2018, entitled “Light Control Systemsand Methods,” the contents of each of which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application is related generally to color lighting arrangements,and more specifically, to methods, systems, and devices that mix lightfrom different color LEDs.

BACKGROUND

Current schemes that include color mixing of light, for example,provided by color mixing projectors offered by Abor Scientific, includesthe overlapping of three projected color circles from three red, green,and blue (RGB) light emitting diodes (LEDs) or related light sources,resulting in a color mixing pattern containing up to seven color mixingregions. However, this is not very efficient in terms of creating colormixing regions.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In one aspect, a pyramidal mirror assembly color mixing light comprisesthree or more mirror on a pyramid structure, three or more color lightsources with heatsinks, a speaker for playing music, a circuit boardthat controls the operations of the color mixing light and communicateswith users through wired or wireless control devices, and a power supplythat supplies electricity to the circuit board. The color mixing is fora creating multicolor pattern, generating color shadows whenilluminating objects, and creating color contents. The color lightsources can be adjusted individually to change the colors of themulticolor pattern.

In some embodiments, three or more white light sources can be added tothe pyramidal mirror assembly color mixing light for regularillumination.

In some embodiments, the mirrors are pivotable so that the shape, size,and color of the color mixing pattern can be changed.

In some embodiments, the mirrors are Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems(MEMS) mirror arrays to control color at a pixel level so that colorcontents can be created.

In some embodiments, the multicolor pattern can be steered to a desiredposition by a beam steering mechanism such as a Fresnel prism pair.

In some embodiments, the colors of the color pattern can be controlledby music.

In some embodiments, the pyramidal mirror assembly color mixing lightcan be controlled by wireless devices, holographic controller, and otherhand gesture controller devices.

In some embodiments, a wide beam color mixing light comprises three ormore colored LEDs with heatsinks, a clear or transparent window, aspeaker for playing music, a circuit board that controls the operationof the color mixing light and communicates with users through wired orwireless devices, a power supply that supplies power to the circuitboard; the color LEDs can be placed on vertices of an equilateraltriangle mesh configuration; the brightness of the color LEDs can beindividually control to generate radiation of various mixing color; thetask of the wide beam color mixing light is to generate a color mixingradiation from three or more color LEDs for illumination, generatingcolor shadows, and creating color contents.

In some embodiments, the color LEDs and their heatsinks are driven bylinear motion mechanisms to change their spacings so that the colorshadows can move, change shapes and colors dynamically.

In some embodiments, the wide beam color mixing light is used in achandelier light to create multicolor shadows from the crystals.

In some embodiments, microshutter arrays or liquid crystal attenuatorarrays or other light attenuator arrays can be placed over the colorLEDs for generating color contents. In some embodiments, themicroshutter array or the liquid crystal attenuator arrays can beconstructed on a geodesic dome structure to mitigate the pixelelongation effect for edge pixels.

In some embodiments, the output color of the wide beam color mixinglight can be controlled by the music played on its speaker.

In some embodiments, the wide beam color mixing light is controlled bywireless devices, holographic controller, and other hand gesturecontroller devices.

In other aspect, a narrow beam color mixing light comprises of three ormore color LEDs with heatsinks, a speaker for playing music, a clearwindow, a beam steering mechanism for steering the multicolor pattern, acircuit board that controls the operation of the color mixing light, apower supply for supplying power to the color mixing light; the colorlight sources can be adjusted individually to create different colorsfor the multicolor pattern; the task of the narrow beam color mixinglight is to provide a steerable, deformable, and color changingmulticolor pattern and to create color shadows.

In some embodiments, the color LEDs with their heatsinks move back andforth by linear motion mechanism for changing shape, color, and size ofthe multicolor pattern.

In some embodiments, microshutter arrays or liquid crystal attenuatorarrays or other light attenuator arrays can be placed over the colorLEDs for generating color contents.

In some embodiments, the narrow beam color mixing light is controlled bywireless devices, holographic controller, and other hand gesturecontroller devices.

In some embodiments, geodesic microshutter arrays or geodesic liquidcrystal attenuator arrays or other geodesic light attenuator arrays canbe placed in front of the color LEDs for color mixing light to createcolor contents.

In some embodiments, an aperture plate with various aperture shape ispositioned on the aperture of color mixing lights to create multicoloredprojections.

In another aspect, a holographic controller comprises a holographicprojector device that projects a holographic control panel, a camerathat captures user's hand gesture to identify user's control command, abeam splitter that brings the camera FOV and holographic controller FOVin the same direction so that the user can see the holographic controlpanel and place the hand gesture at the same place, a processor forprocessing hand gesture image and identifying control command.

In another aspect, a color mixing light system comprises a pyramidalmirror assembly comprising three or more mirrors constructed andarranged in a pyramid structure; and three or more color light sourcemodules, wherein the pyramidal mirror assembly divides the light beamsfrom the color light source modules so that a first portion is reflectedby the mirrors and a second portion extends beyond the mirrors tocollectively form a multicolor pattern comprising plurality ofoverlapping color regions on a surface.

In some embodiments, the color mixing light system further comprises acontroller that controls an operation of the color mixing light andprovides communications between the color mixing light system and remotecontrol mobile devices via wired or wireless network.

In some embodiments, the controller includes an electronic circuit thatcontrols the color light source modules individually to change colors ofthe multicolor pattern.

In some embodiments, an output of the color light source modules at thepyramidal mirror assembly produces color mixing for forming themulticolor pattern and color shadows of illuminated objects at thesurface.

In some embodiments, the color mixing light system further comprisesthree or more white light source modules added to the pyramidal mirrorassembly color mixing light.

In some embodiments, the color mixing light system further comprises acontroller that pivots the mirrors so that a shape, size, intensity,color, or a combination of characteristics of the color mixing patterncan be changed.

In some embodiments, the mirrors include Micro-Electro-MechanicalSystems (MEMS) mirror arrays that control a color of an output of thecolor light source modules at a pixel level.

In some embodiments, the color mixing light system further comprises abeam steering mechanism for steering the multicolor pattern to a desiredposition. In some embodiments, the beam steering mechanism includes aFresnel prism pair.

In some embodiments, the color mixing light system further comprises anaudio speaker for outputting music that controls the colors of the colorpattern.

In some embodiments, the color light source modules comprises colorlight sources and heat sinks.

In some embodiments, a color light source module comprises a lens, amicroshutter array, and a color light source.

In some embodiments, a color light source module comprises a lens and acolor LED array.

In some embodiments, color mixing light system has an outer mirror thatreflects the portion of light beam that misses the pyramid mirror towardthe center region to increase color mixing regions.

In some embodiments, the color mixing light system is controlled by atleast one of a wireless devices, a holographic controller, or other handgesture controller device.

In another aspect, a wide beam color mixing light comprises three ormore color LED modules with heatsinks; a clear or transparent window; aspeaker for playing music; a circuit board that controls the operationof the color mixing light and communicates with users through wired orwireless devices; and a power supply that supplies power to the circuitboard, wherein the color LED modules are positioned on vertices of anequilateral triangle mesh configuration.

In some embodiments, the brightnesses of the color LED modules areindividually controlled to generate radiation of various mixing color,and wherein a task of wide beam color mixing light includes generating acolor mixing radiation from the color LED modules for illumination,generating color shadows, and creating color contents.

In some embodiments, the color LED modules and heatsinks are driven bylinear motion mechanisms to change their spacings so that the colorshadows can move, change shapes and colors dynamically.

In some embodiments, the wide beam color mixing light is constructed andarranged for use in a chandelier light to create multicolor shadows fromcrystals of the chandelier light.

In some embodiments, the color LED modules further comprise color LEDs,microshutter arrays, liquid crystal attenuator arrays, or other lightattenuator arrays positioned over the color LED modules for generatingcolor contents according to a pixel level color mixing operation.

In some embodiments, the color LED modules in the wide beam color mixinglight further comprise lenses, color LEDs, microshutter arrays, liquidcrystal attenuator arrays, or other light attenuator arrays positionedover the color LEDs for generating color contents according to a pixellevel color mixing operation.

In some embodiments, the color LED modules in the wide beam color mixinglight further comprise lenses, color LED arrays for generating colorcontents according to a pixel level color mixing operation.

In some embodiments, the microshutter array or the liquid crystalattenuator arrays are constructed on a geodesic dome structure tomitigate the pixel elongation effect for edge pixels.

In some embodiments, the output color of the wide beam color mixinglight is controlled by the music played on the speaker.

In some embodiments, the wide beam color mixing light further comprisesa controller that exchanges control signals with wireless devices, aholographic controller, and other hand gesture controller devices.

In another aspect, a narrow beam color mixing light system comprisesthree or more color LED modules including heatsinks; a speaker forplaying music; a clear window; and a beam steering mechanism forsteering the multicolor pattern; and a circuit board that controls theoperation of the color mixing light, wherein the color LED modules areadjusted individually to create different colors for the multicolorpattern, a narrow beam color mixing light output provides a steerable,deformable, and color changing multicolor pattern, and color shadows andproduced.

In some embodiments, the color LED modules move back and forth by alinear motion mechanism for changing a shape, color, and size of themulticolor pattern.

In some embodiments, the color LED modules of the narrow beam colormixing light further comprise color LEDs, microshutter arrays, liquidcrystal attenuator arrays, or other light attenuator arrays positionedover the color LED modules for generating color contents.

In some embodiments, the color LED modules in the narrow beam colormixing light further comprises color LED arrays for generating colorcontents.

In some embodiments, the narrow beam color mixing light system furthercomprises a controller that exchanges control signals with wirelessdevices, a holographic controller, and other hand gesture controllerdevices.

In some embodiments, the narrow beam color mixing light system furthercomprises geodesic microshutter arrays, geodesic liquid crystalattenuator arrays, or other geodesic light attenuator arrays positionedin front of the color LED modules for color mixing light to create colorcontents.

In some embodiments, the narrow beam color mixing light system furthercomprises an aperture plate with various aperture shape placed on anaperture of the color mixing lights to create multicolored projections.

In another aspect, a holographic controller comprises a holographicprojector device that projects a holographic control panel, a camerathat captures user's hand gesture to identify user's control command, abeam splitter that brings the camera FOV and holographic controller FOVin the same direction so that the user can see the holographic controlpanel and place the hand gesture at the same place, a processor forprocessing hand gesture image and identifying control command.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of embodimentsof the present inventive concepts will be apparent from the moreparticular description of preferred embodiments, as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to thesame elements throughout the different views. The drawings are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustratingthe principles of the preferred embodiments.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are drawings describing systems including narrow beamcolor mixing and wide beam color mixing arrangements, respectively, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a drawing describing a pyramidal mirror assembly forperforming a color mixing operation, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 3 is a drawing describing how a color mixing pattern is changed bylinear motion mechanisms for narrow beam lighting, in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a drawing describing how a color mixing pattern is beingchanged by pivotable mirrors for mixing of colors using a pyramidalmirror assembly, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a drawing describing beam steering for a narrow beam lightingincluding color mixing, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a drawing describing beam steering for a pyramidal mirrorassembly performing a color mixing operation, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 7 is a drawing describing of an arrangement for generating a colorshadow in a color mixing region, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a drawing describing how a color shadow can be changed in awide beam color mixing operation using linear motion mechanisms, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a drawing describing an application of a wide beam colormixing operation to a chandelier light, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 10 is a drawing describing how multiple color source modules in apyramidal mirror assembly for the color mixing of light can createmulticolor projections from an aperture plate with various apertureshapes, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a drawing describing color mixing from six different colorLED modules in an equilateral triangle mesh configuration, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 12 is a drawing describing color mixing from six different colorLED modules in a hexagon configuration, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 13 is a drawing describing color mixing at a six-faced pyramidalmirror assembly for the color mixing of light, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 14 is a drawing describing a pixelization of color mixing at apyramidal mirror assembly using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)mirror arrays, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 15 is a drawing describing a pixelization of color mixing at a widebeam arrangement using microshutter arrays, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 15A is a drawing describing the offset calibration amongmicroshutter arrays for a wide beam color mixing light, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 16 is a drawing describing a pixelization of color mixing at a widebeam arrangement using liquid crystal attenuator arrays, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 17 is a drawing describing the effect of pixel elongation of amicroshutter array in a planar format and how a geodesic dome format canmitigate the effect, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 18 is a drawing of an operation of a holographic controller, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 19 is a photograph of an apparatus including the holographiccontroller of FIG. 18 , in accordance with some embodiments.

FIGS. 20-22 are photographs of a result of color mixing (colorpatterns), in accordance with some embodiments.

FIGS. 23 and 24 are photographs of color shadows, in accordance withsome embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a drawing describing a pixelization process of a color mixinglight based on three pixelized color light modules, in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 26 is a drawing illustrating outer mirrors in addition to apyramidal mirror assembly, in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Color mixing is generally obtained when light beams of different colorsoverlap with each other, for example, as displayed on a surface. A firstapproach to achieve this is to direct three individual color lightsources at a same target region. A second approach is to positionmultiple light source modules such as color LEDs behind a common lens.Here, the projected images of the color LEDs will overlap to produce amulticolor pattern. In the first approach, the separation between thecolor light sources is large due to the configuration where RGB LEDs arebehind a lens and pertaining to related applications such as RGBflashlights. In such applications, if a plurality of RGB flashlights areadjacent each other, the outputs will overlap almost completely,resulting in a display of “white” color on the surface, i.e. little tono other colors. In order to display a more prominent overlap of thevarious colors output from the flashlights, at least one flashlight ismoved further apart. In configurations including RGB LEDs and a lens,the effect is provided with a much smaller separation.

The second approach can produce a compact device. However, the size ofthe resulting color pattern is small. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 1 , amaximum of seven regions of varying colors and/or mixture of colors canbe achieved.

In brief overview, embodiments of the present inventive concepts providefor color mixing light systems utilizing a pyramidal mirror assemblythat can mix colors from multiple color sources in a manner thatproduces up to sixteen color mixing regions, resulting in a colorfulview for a view that is greater than twice that of a conventional lightcolor mixing approach. Additional color regions may refer to colorful orcolor variations. Although the size is bigger (the previous reference to“twice” refers to the measure of colorfulness), the pyramidal mirrorassembly is constructed and arranged as a three-faced pyramid that mixeslight above its mirrored faces. The pyramidal mirror assembly dividesthe color LED light beams into two portions: a first portion reflectedby the mirrors and a portion that escapes the mirrors. The secondportion escaping the mirrors produces three single color regions at theouter region of the color pattern. The first portion reflected by themirrors produces thirteen color mixing regions at the inner region ofthe color pattern. Examples of color patterns are illustrated in FIGS.19 and 20 . Color shadows in the color mixing regions create beautifulprojections, for example, shown in FIG. 21 . In some embodiments, thepyramidal mirror assembly mixing colors in this manner can be used tocreate art and decorate home. Because there is no lens to shrink themixing color beam in this arrangement, pyramid color mixing of lightproduces wide beam color mixing, which allows for a large coverage areaas compared to conventional color mixing approaches.

Accordingly, the color mixing light systems in accordance with suchembodiments overcome the limitations of conventional color mixinglights, which do not have the ability to vary the size of the colormixing regions and the capability to steer the color mixing lightpatterns. Although color mixing lights create colorful color variations,they does not have the ability to create color contents such as acolorful flower. Also, applications may be provided to museums or othervenues where color mixing lights may create color shadows, while alsoproviding an ability to move and change the shadows

In some embodiments, the brightness of each color LED can vary togenerate different color mixing patterns. In some embodiments, whitelight can be added to the pyramidal mirror assembly color mixing lightso that users can use regular illumination, for example, for reading orother activities common offered when traditional light bulbs are used,and enjoy the beautiful color pattern at the same time. For example, aviewer may enjoy the aesthetics offered by the color pattern while alsorelying on the white light to read books in a dark room, etc. In someembodiments, an audio device such as a speaker or the like can be addedto a system that includes the pyramidal mirror assembly so that musiccan be played and light emitted from multiple light sources such as LEDscan be controlled at the same time. In some embodiments, a beam steeringmechanism such as a Risley Fresnel prism pair can be added to the lightso that the resulting color mixing pattern can be steered to any desiredlocation. For example, a user can place the pyramidal mirror assemblycolor mixing light at the corner of a room for projecting the colormixing pattern at the center of the ceiling. In some embodiments, themirrors in the pyramidal mirror assembly color mixing light can bepivotable so that the color pattern can be changed dynamically. In someembodiments, the pyramidal mirror assembly includes a MEMS mirror array.This not only allow the color pattern to be changed dynamically but alsocontrol the color mixing in a small pixel scale. Here, color content canbe created in that an image of an object of relative complexity withcolor details can be generated, for example, a flower.

The pixelization of color mixing allows users to create color contentssuch as a colorful flower in some embodiments. In some embodiment, thepyramidal mirror assembly includes more than three mirrors for colormixing operations, resulting in additional color mixing regions. For apyramidal mirror assembly with six mirrors can produce up to 51 colormixing regions.

Color light mixing can be divided into two categories: narrow beam andwide beam. In narrow beam color mixing configurations, color beams oflimited beam sizes overlap. Light beams can be partially overlapped tocreate multiple color mixing regions. If the color light sources, e.g.,LEDs, are very close, they can be nearly completely overlapped. Thenarrow beam color mixing can be obtained by three narrow beam colorlight sources usually RGB, or 3 color LEDs with a common lens. Theprojected color light beams from the color LEDs overlap to create colormixing regions. Up to seven color mixing regions can be created. In someembodiment, more than three color LEDs can be used to create even morecolor mixing regions. The resulting color mixing pattern is morecolorful. For a six color LEDs configurations, for example, shown inFIG. 11 , the color mixing regions increases to 19 regions, which isalmost 3 times more colorful than a three color LEDs configuration. Insome embodiments, the brightness of individual LEDs can be adjustedindependently to change the color mixing pattern. In some embodiments,linear motion mechanism can be attached to a color LED-heatsink assemblyin the LEDs-lens configuration such that the separation between colorLEDs can be adjusted dynamically. The multicolor pattern can thereforebe changed dynamically. In some embodiment, the lens can be a Fresnellens and can be placed on an x-y motorized rail to steer the colormixing pattern. The beam steering and color changing of the multicolorpattern can be used in various applications and environments such astheaters.

In wide beam color mixing, the illumination region of each light sourceis much larger than the separation between the color LEDs. The threecolor illumination regions fall on top of each other. Therefore, thereis essentially one color mixing region in this configuration. That is,its color mixing pattern is single color. Some conventionalconfigurations provide color changing lights to perform color mixinginside a lightbulb, and whereby when color light illuminates on anobject, the shadow is dark not color. Accordingly, such color changinglights such as Philips® Hue lighting system, which perform color mixingsinside the lightbulb, produces an output light that is a uniform singlecolor with no color shadow. In some embodiments, a light system canperform color mixing outside the light bulb to create not only a singlecolor light but also create color shadows. Some embodiments of thepresent inventive concepts provide a wide beam color mixing light thatperforms color mixing external to the light. When its color light shineson an object, it creates multiple color shadows. In some embodiments,the mixing color of a wide beam color mixing light can be changeddynamically by adjusting the brightness of individual LEDsindependently. In some embodiments, an output light of a wide beam colormixing light can be used for illumination and create color shadows atthe same time. In some embodiments, more than three color LEDs can beused to construct a wide beam color mixing light to increase thecolorfulness of color shadows. In the equilateral triangle meshconfiguration shown in FIG. 11 where six color LEDs are placed on itsvertices, the number of color shadow mixing regions increases from 7 to19, almost 3 time as colorful. In some embodiment, linear motionmechanisms can be used to adjust the spacing between color LEDs to makecolor shadows move and change colors. A shadow that can move and changecolors in this manner, for example, can make a horror movie evenscarier.

In some embodiments, a wide beam color mixing light can be placed insidea chandelier light or the like. The crystals can create multicolorshadows on various illumination surfaces. In some embodiments, a widebeam color mixing light can be place inside a multi-holed or neststructures. The structure can create beautiful color shadows on theillumination surfaces. Because it has only one color mixing region, awide beam color mixing light is a very good choice for creating colorcontents. In some embodiments, microshutter arrays can be placed overindividual color LEDs to pixelize color mixing in a wide beam colormixing light. In some embodiments, liquid crystal attenuator arrays canbe placed over individual color LEDs to pixelize color mixing in a widebeam color mixing light. By controlling the color mixing at the pixellevel in either type of array, color content such as a colorful flowercan be created. In some embodiment, the planar microshutter array orliquid crystal attenuator array can be replaced by arrays on a geodesicstructure to mitigate the elongation effect of pixel size for edgepixels.

In some embodiments, color mixing lights have multiple color sources.When an aperture is place over them, multiple color projections of theaperture can be obtained on an illumination surface in some embodiments.In some embodiments, the aperture can be any geometric shape such ascircles, triangles, and square, etc. In some embodiments, the shape ofthe aperture can be the shape of movie characters or favorite animals orother desired object.

In some embodiments, color mixing lights can be controlled by aholographic controller, for example, described in patent PCT/US17/040172incorporated by reference herein in its entirety comprises a camera, aholographic projector, and a beam steering mechanism. The camera and theholographic projector share the same field of view (FOV) The beamsteering mechanism steers the FOV to the user to view the hologram. Theholographic projector can project a control panel hologram to the user.The user can use hand gestures to activate various commands on theholographic control panel. In some embodiments, color mixing lights canbe controlled using the control panel on the lights. In someembodiments, color mixing lights can be controlled by remote controlsand mobile devices.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show two types of color mixing schemes 1023 and 1033generated by a three color light source system 1020 and 1030,respectively. In some embodiments, color light source system 1020 cancomprise of RGB light sources 1021 such as LEDs arranged in a triangularconfiguration and a clear window 1022. The triangle can be anequilateral type or other type. The separation between LEDs is small incomparison to the light beam size at target distance of six feet, 15times smaller for example. The illumination angle of the LEDs 1021 canbe as much as 120°. The output light beams are wide field. Because thesmall separation, the three color beams almost completely overlap asshown. The color mixing region 1023 is essentially single color exceptat the edges. In some embodiment, the 3 color light system 1020 can varytheir intensities to produce a different output color in the colormixing region 1023 as a color changing light system. Some color changinglight systems, for example, a Philips® Hue lighting system, mixes thelight rays from all color LEDs inside a light bulb to maximize colormixing. The spatial information of the light source is lost. However,the shadow of an object it is illuminating is dark, and not colorful. Incontrast, the color mixing system 1020 mixes the light rays outside alight bulb or the like, in some embodiments. The spatial separation ofcolor light sources 1021 is maintained. Here, the shadow of an object ismulticolored. The output color of color mixing system 1020 may be awhite or other color, the shadow is multicolored. Thus, the wide beamcolor mixing light 1020 is a color changing light that can createshadows. In some embodiment, each color LED 1021 can be a single coloror multicolor LED comprising of multicolored LED chips. Each LED chipcan be independently controlled.

Referring to FIG. 1B, in some embodiments, a lens 1032 can replace theclear window 1022 of FIG. 1A to produce a color mixing light 1030. Thelens 1032 can project 3 LEDs 1031 onto an illumination surface producingthree color circles. If the LEDs are close enough, the circles willoverlap each other to produce color mixing pattern of 1033. In someembodiments, the color circles can be enlarged so they can overlap bydefocusing the light sources. Because the beam size is limited by thefocal length of the lens, the light beams are usually narrow. The colormixing is narrow beam mixing. Unlike the wide beam color mixing, whichprovides only one color mixing region, the narrow beam color mixing canprovide as many as seven color mixing regions 1033, or more. The RGBthree color mixing occurs in the middle or region of overlap of thethree color regions R, G, B. Three dual-color mixings RG, RB, and GBoccur in region right next to the center region. Three single colorcolors R, G, and B occur at the outermost regions. In some embodiments,the intensities of color LEDs 1031 can be adjusted to change the colorsof the displayed color pattern. In some embodiments, each color LED 1031can be a single color or multicolor LED comprising of multicolored LEDchips or the like. Each LED chip can be independently controlled.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of another color mixing scheme. A colormixing light system 2020 includes three light sources 2021 such as RGBLEDs with heatsinks 2022, which can be placed in front of the mirrors2023 in a three-faced pyramidal mirror assembly 2024 in someembodiments. The color mixing light system 2020 also includes an audiospeaker 2030. The angle of the mirrors is 45° so that the chief ray froman LED 2021 is reflected in the vertical direction in some embodiments.The light system 2020 includes no lens. In some embodiments, the colorLEDs can be other combinations in lieu of RGB LEDs. The pyramidal mirrorassembly divides the light beams from the LEDs into two portions: afirst portion that is reflected by the mirrors and a second portion thatescapes the mirrors. Unlike the color mixing light 1030 of FIG. 1B,which provides a beam size limited by the focal length of the lens, thereflected light of the light system of 2020 is limited by the size ofthe mirror because there is no lens involved. The resulting color mixingpattern 2030 is substantially larger than a lens-based configuration dueto a wide beam color mixing arrangement.

In some embodiments, the reflections of the three color LEDs 2021 fromthe three mirrors 2023 produce 3 reflection patterns 2011, 2012, and2013 oriented 60° from each other. The shape of each reflection patternis not circular. Its shape is a partial fan shape resembles a trapezoidas illustrated in the left picture of FIG. 20 . This is due to the factthat most of the light rays from each LED reflected by the correspondingtriangle mirror 2021 occurs near the bottom portion of mirror. There aremore and more light rays escape the triangle mirror as moving toward thetop mirror vertex. Some light rays are directed above the top of thepyramid. The light rays that escape the mirrors 2021 will end up inouter regions, R, B, and G. These rays come directly from the colorLEDs. No color mixing occurs here. When comparing the number of colormixing regions between color mixing pattern 1030 of FIG. 1B and colormixing pattern 2010 of FIG. 2 , there are seven color regions in colormixing pattern 1030 and sixteen color regions in color mixing pattern2010. Thus, the color mixing configuration of color mixing pattern 2020is not only better in coverage area but also much more colorful thancurrent color mixing configurations.

It is well-known that an LED output intensity is directly proportionalto its input current. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the intensitiesof color LEDs 2021 can be adjusted by using a controller or the like tovary the input currents to the LEDs to change the colors of the colorpattern. In some embodiments, a controller that adjusts LED intensitycan be a physical dimmer on the control panel on the light casing or awireless dimmer on a remote control or a slide dimmer executed by asmartphone application or the like. In some embodiments, each color LED2021 can be a single color or multicolor LED comprising of multicoloredLED chips. Each LED chip can be independently controlled. Because thelight system 2020 is one type of wide beam color mixing light, some timeis desirable to reduce the size of the color pattern. In someembodiment, a Fresnel lens can be place on the exit aperture of thecolor mixing light to reduce the size of the color pattern.

Color mixing patterns can change in two different ways. The first way isto change the size or structure of the color mixing pattern. This isachieved by either changing the spacing between LEDs for narrow beamcolor mixing or pivoting the mirrors around 45° position for thepyramidal mirror assembly color mixing configuration. The second way isto change the location of the color mixing pattern. This can be done bybeam steering components of the light system that produce the colormixing pattern. For narrow beam color mixing patterns, the pattern canbe moved or steered by relative motion between the lens and the 3 colorLED assembly. For a light system including a pyramidal mirror assembly,counter-rotating a pair (or Risley prism pair) of Fresnel prisms can beused to steer the color mixing pattern. In some embodiments, thestructure size change of the color pattern creates spatial color changesin addition to the stationary color changing by adjusting intensities ofvarious color LEDs. In some embodiments, the motions of color mixingpattern changing, either structure size changing or the whole patternmoving can be used for various applications, for example, for thepurpose of entertainment.

FIG. 3 shows a color pattern motion driving mechanism 3020 for providinga narrow beam color mixing pattern 3010. The mechanism 3020 can comprisecolor LEDs 3022 on heatsinks 3021, a lens such as Fresnel lens 3024, anda linear motion mechanism that moves toward or away from the center3025. In some embodiment the linear motion mechanism can be a motor witha lead screw or the like. In other mechanism, it can be other linearmotion driving mechanism. As shown in FIG. 3 , the lens 3024 projectsthe outputs of the RGB LEDs 3022 including three color circles 3011,3012, and 3013 on an illumination surface where they form color patternas illustrated by the dotted lines. When the linear motion drivingmechanism moves the RGB LEDs outward, the corresponding color circlesmoves to new positions as illustrated by 3014, 3015, and 3016. Theoverlap area decreases as the LEDs 3022 move outwards, and the patternbecomes more colorful.

FIG. 4 shows a pyramidal mirror assembly 4010 with pivotable mirrors4013 for color mixing. In some embodiments, pivotable mirrors 4013 pivotabout the 45° angle to redirect light rays from color LEDs 4011 tochange the color mixing pattern 4020. In some embodiments, the threecolor LEDs 4011 can be RGB LEDs. In some embodiment, the three colorLEDs can be other colors. In some embodiment, pivotable mirrors can bepivoted by actuators. In some embodiment, pivotable mirrors can bepivoted by motors. In some embodiment, pivotable mirrors can be pivotedby other mechanisms. When pivotable mirrors pivot from 45° to largerangle, more light rays are reflected by the mirrors. The color lightregions produced by the mirrors increase as illustrated by the solidline regions. The color light regions produced by light rays that escapemirrors decrease as illustrated by the solid line regions. The dottedline regions are produced by pivotable mirrors at 45°. The beamlocations of color mixing pattern 4020 don't change but the beam sizeschange. White light sources 4014 can be added to the pyramidal mirrorassembly with respect to the color mixing of various light sources.

FIG. 5 shows a beam steering mechanism 5010 for a narrow beam colormixing pattern 5020. It can comprise three color LEDs 5011, a lens suchas Fresnel lens 5012, and two orthogonal motorized rails 3013. Only onemotorized motion 5013 is shown in the figure for simplicity. Either thelens 5012 or the LED assembly is placed on motorized rails 5013. Whenthe motorized rails 5013 move either the lens 5012 or the LED assembly5011, the color mixing pattern 5020 moves from the original position(dotted line color circles) to new position (solid line color circles).Beam steering of the color mixing pattern does not change the size ofthe color circles 5021, 5022, and 5023, or their overlap areas.

In some embodiments, a narrow beam color mixing light comprises threecolor LEDs such as RGB LEDs with heatsinks, a lens such as Fresnel lens,a linear motion mechanism to drive the LEDs toward and away from acommon center of the LEDs to change the overlap area of color mixingregions, a beam steering mechanism to create relative linear motionbetween the three color LED assembly and the Fresnel lens for steeringthe color mixing light pattern, electronics, and a power supply toprovide power to the electronics, for example, a circuit board or thelike that provides control functions with respect to the LED assemblyand/or other elements of the system. In some embodiments, the systemincludes a controller, for example, an electronic circuit board or thelike, that controls various operations of the color mixing lightincluding but not limited to individual LED intensity to adjust colormixing ratio, beam steering control, color pattern shape, size, and soon. In some embodiments, the electronics can vary the brightness ofindividual LED to obtain different color patterns. In some embodiments,an audio device such as a speaker can be added so that music can controlthe colors of the multicolor pattern. The sound modulations of the musicor other audio output can be converted by a conversion apparatus intocurrent inputs to the color LEDs to obtain various color patterns. Insome embodiments, the electronics can communicate with a remote devicevia a network for example, a wired or wireless network. For example, aBluetooth or WiFi module can be used in the circuit board. It willcommunicate with the devices with Bluetooth or WiFi modules. In someembodiments, the user can control the narrow beam color mixing lightremotely by mobile device using a software application executed on aprocessor of a personal computing device such as a smartphone, laptopcomputer, and so on, or remote control using the buttons on its controlpanel. In some embodiments, the user can control the narrow beam colormixing light using the manual controls on the light. For example, acontrol panel with dimming buttons and switches can be placed on thecasing of the color mixing light for a user to manually control thelight. In some embodiments, a user can control the narrow beam colormixing light using a holographic sensor. The holographic projectorprojects a hologram of a control panel for controlling the color mixinglight in the FOV of the holographic sensor. In some embodiment, thebuttons on the holographic control panel can be in forms of handgestures. Seeing it, a user can select the command button he/she wantsby showing a hand gesture corresponding to the hand gesture of thecommand button in some embodiment. The camera in the holographic sensorwhose FOV is in the same direction captures the image of the handgesture and matches with the hand gestures in the gesture library income embodiment. If there is a match, the button will be activated andthe corresponding command will be sent to the color mixing light in someembodiment. Otherwise no action will be taken.

FIG. 6 shows a beam steering mechanism 6010 for a pyramidal mirrorassembly configuration. It can comprise two Fresnel prisms 6012, acounter-rotating mechanism 6013, and a co-rotation mechanism 6014 insome embodiments. In some embodiments, the beam steering mechanism 6010is placed on the exit aperture of the pyramid color mixing lightassembly 6011. In some embodiments, the counter-rotating mechanism 6013moves the color mixing pattern 6020 away from the optical axis of 6010while the co-rotating mechanism 6014 rotates the color mixing pattern6020 about the optical axis of 6010 in the azimuth direction. Thisallows the color mixing pattern to move from a location represented bydoted lines to a new location represented by solid lines. In someembodiments, the rotating mechanisms 6013 and 6014 can be motorized. Insome embodiment, the rotating mechanisms 6013 and 6014 can be manuallyoperated. The beam steering capability allows a user to place the colormixing light 6010 at any location and still able to obtain the colormixing pattern 6020 at the area in some embodiment. For example, a usercan place the color mixing light 6020 at the corner of a room andnevertheless able to view a display of the color mixing pattern 6020 inthe middle ceiling.

In some embodiments, a pyramidal mirror assembly for color mixing lightcan be constructed by using a three-faced pyramidal mirror, 3 color LEDssuch as RGB LEDs, 3 heat sinks for the LEDs, control electronics, apower supply, and a transparent window. In some embodiments, thepyramidal mirror can have more than three-faced mirrors and more thanthe color LEDs. In some embodiments, the brightness of the color LEDscan be adjusted dynamically so that multicolor mixing pattern can bechanged in real time. In some embodiments, white light LEDs can be addedto the color mixing light so users can use white light and color lightat the same time. In some embodiment, a speaker or other audio devicecan be added to the color mixing light so that music can be played andcontrol the change of colors. In some embodiment, the mirrors on thepyramid can be pivotable so that the size and colors of the multicolorpattern can be changed. In some embodiments, a pair of Fresnel prismscan be placed on top of the pyramid color mixing light to steer thecolor mixing light pattern to user's desired position. In someembodiments, the beam steering mechanism can be motorized. In someembodiment, the beam steering mechanism can be manual. In someembodiments, the control electronics can have dimming control for thecolor LEDs, wired and wireless control modules, control electronics forthe pivotable mirrors, control electronics for the beam steeringmechanism. In some embodiments, a user can control pyramidal mirrorassembly color mixing light wirelessly using his/her mobile device or aremote control. In some embodiment, a user can control the pyramidalmirror assembly color mixing light manually by using buttons on thecontrol panel on the light. In some embodiments, a user can control thepyramidal mirror assembly color mixing light by using a holographiccontroller. In some embodiments, a user can use a smart speaker tocontrol the pyramidal mirror assembly color mixing light.

As previously described, a color mixing light can be configured by alighting system to generate color shadows. Shadows occur because objectsblock light from light sources. If there are more than one light sourceshining on an object, there will be multiple shadows. The number ofshadows equal to number of light sources. When light sources emit lightof different colors, color mixing can occur in shadow regions. In theshadow of a given color light source, there is no light of this color.But there is color light from other color light sources, and they willmix. For example, three RGB color light sources illuminate on an object,in a red light shadow region color light from the green and blue sourcesare present. Blue light and green light will mix in this region to forma cyan color shadow. Other combinations can be analyzed in a similarfashion. If there are only red and green light sources, green light willbe in the red light shadow and red light will be in the green lightshadow.

In FIG. 7 , color mixing in the shadow regions for an RGB color mixingregion 7014 is performed and analyzed. A test setup 7020 can compriseRGB LEDs 7021, an object 7022, and a screen 7024. Color light beams 7023from RGB LEDs 7021 illuminate on an object 7022. Their shadows areprojected on the screen 7024. 7030 is the head-on view of the testset-up. The object 7034 is projected onto the LED plane. The RGB LEDsare 7031, 7032, and 7033. Their corresponding shadows 7011, 7012, and7013 are displayed on color mixing region 7014 at the screen 7010. Asmentioned earlier, colors red, green, and blue are missing in theircorresponding shadow regions 7011, 7012, and 7013. Light of other colorsare present in their shadows. So blue and green are in shadow region7011. Red and blue colors are in shadow region 7012. Red and greencolors are in shadow region 7013. As can be seen, the shadows haveoverlap and non-overlap regions. The overlap regions can have two orthree color shadows. In two color shadow overlap regions, only one coloris present. In three color shadow overlap regions, no color is present.The color of the region is dark. In color shadow non-overlap region,there are two colors present. As can be seen from FIG. 7 , seven colorshadow overlap regions in the shadows are labelled. They will producecyan, yellow, magenta on the non-overlap regions, red, green, and bluein the 2 shadows overlap regions, and dark in the 3 shadows overlapregion.

FIG. 8 shows a color pattern driving mechanism 8020 similar to FIG. 3for wide beam color mixing. In some embodiments, the color patterndriving mechanism 8020 can comprise a linear motion device such as amotor with lead screw or the like. In some embodiments, the colorpattern driving mechanism can comprise a magnetic driving device. Insome embodiments, the color pattern driving mechanism can comprise otherdriving devices. Because it relates to wide beam color mixing, the colorpattern has very little noticeable changes during a motion of one ormore LEDs. The color shadow pattern 8011 on the other hand canexperience substantial changes. In some embodiments, the linear motionmechanism 8022 moves the color LEDs 8021 along the three directions (forexample, relative to a Cartesian coordinate system), forcing a colorshadow to change from 8011 a (dotted lines) to 8011 b (solid lines). Theareas of overlap regions also change leading to color changes in thecolor shadow pattern. In some embodiment, the intensities of three colorLEDs can be varied dynamically to produce various mixing colors at theillumination surface. In some embodiment, the shadow of an illuminatedobject can produce multiple color shadows. In some embodiment, the colorpattern driving mechanism can change color shadows dynamically. The widebeam color mixing light not only can change color dynamically, but alsocreate multiple color shadows dynamically. Furthermore, the colorshadows can change in size and color. This feature may be beneficial invarious applications. For example, this feature will make horror movieseven scarier.

In some embodiments, a wide beam color mixing light can be constructedusing three color sources such as RGB LEDs with heat sinks, 3 linearmotion mechanisms, a transparent window, control electronics, a speaker,and a power supply. In some embodiment, the color LEDs and heatsinkassemblies can be placed on vertices of a triangle such as equilateraltriangle. Although the output is single color mixing light, the mixingcolor still carries the LED spatial separation information in the lightin some embodiment. In some embodiment, the output light can be used forboth illumination and decoration. The color mixing white light can beused for regular illumination. When the color mixing white lightilluminates objects of interest, it can create color shadows fordecoration or other purpose. In some embodiments, the color LED andheatsink assemblies can be moved back and forth by the linear motionmechanisms to change the color shadows dynamically. In some embodiments,the color LED and heatsink assemblies can be at the vertices of atriangle of fixed side lengths and with no linear motion mechanisms. Insome embodiments, the control electronics can comprise LED dimmingelectronics to adjust the color mixing ratio dynamically, WiFi andBluetooth modules for communicating wirelessly to a control device, aspeaker electronics for converting music to color lighting modulation.In some embodiments, the wide beam color mixing light can be controlledby a smart speaker such as Amazon's Alexa™. A user can give a voicecommand to a cloud based voice service such as Amazon Alexa™ by speakingto the audio receiving device that communicates with the voice service.The device, e.g., Alexa™, then outputs the command to the color mixinglight for executing the command. In some embodiments, the wide beamcolor mixing light can be controlled by a remote control by pressing theselected button on the control panel. In some embodiments, the wide beamcolor mixing light can be controlled by a smartphone or a tablet using acontrol App. In some embodiments, the wide beam color mixing light canbe controlled by a holographic controlled sensor. Examples of operationof control is described with respect to FIG. 5 . In some embodiments, acontroller includes an electronic circuit that controls the color lightsources individually to change colors of the multicolor mixing pattern.Here, a change in the intensity of one color LED will change severalcolors in the color pattern, for example when you change the redintensity, the color mixing colors RG, RB, and RGB will be affected, butGB will not be affected. In embodiments, there are no pivotable mirrorsand beam steering mechanism, the shape and size of the beam does notchange.

In some embodiment, the properties of color shadow can be exploited inchandelier light or other lights with hole patterns or nestconfigurations. A chandelier light can comprise light bulbs, crystals,and support frames or the like for attaching the crystals. In someembodiment, a color mixing chandelier light can be constructed byreplacing regular light bulbs with the wide beam color mixing lights.FIG. 9 shows a chandelier color mixing light 9010 hanging from a ceilingby a support 9011. A wide beam color mixing light 9012 can be provided.Crystals 9013 are attached to frame support 9014. The color shadows ofthe crystals are projected onto the floor, wall, and ceiling. They arelabelled by 9015, 9016, and 9017 respectively. In some embodiment, thewide beam color mixing light 9010 can be placed inside structure withhole patterns or nest to create color shadows.

In some embodiments, the multiple color sources in a color mixing lightcan be used to project multicolored images of apertures onto anillumination surface. Each color light source can create one image ofthe aperture. Because there are multiple color LEDs in a color mixinglight, there can be multiple color images of the aperture. In someembodiment, the aperture can be any shape that fits the user'sapplication. It can be general geometric shapes such as circle, ellipse,triangle, square, etc. In some embodiment, the aperture shape can beanimals, rockets or other vehicles. In some embodiments, the apertureshape can be movie characters. FIG. 10 shows a circle aperture 10014 anda square aperture 10015 are cut out of a plate 10012. The plate materialis opaque in the non-aperture area 10013. Each LED in the pyramidalmirror assembly color mixing light has two light sources: one beingreflected by the mirror, the other is the LED itself. In thisembodiment, there are a total of six color light sources. There are 6color circles 10021 and 6 color squares 10022. The pyramidal mirrorassembly color mixing light is used in FIG. 10 . In some embodiments,the other color mixing lights can be used for this application.

As previously mentioned, in some embodiments, the number of color mixingcan be performed for more than three LEDs to produce more colorfulmixing patterns and also more colorful color shadows. In FIG. 11 , theRGB LED group (11022, 11023, 11024) with a lens such as a Fresnel lens11021 forms a narrow beam color mixing light with overlapping colormixing circles illustrated by dotted lines in the color mixing pattern11010. The separation between LEDs is 11028. In some embodiment, 3 morecolor LEDs such as RGB LEDs can be added to this LED group. The LEDseparation 11021 is fixed. Three more RGB LED groups (11025, 11023,11024), (11022, 11026, 11024), and (11022, 11023, 11027) are formed insome embodiments. In some embodiments, the configuration in which thecolor LEDs are place can be an equilateral triangle mesh. The color LEDsare at the vertices of this mesh. The number of color mixing regionsincreases from 7 to 19. The color mixing pattern is therefore threetimes more colorful than a three RGB LEDs configuration.

In some embodiments, the lens 11021 can be replaced by atransparent/clear window to form a wide beam color mixing light. A colorpattern formed by four groups of color LEDs is about the same size asthe 1 group color LEDs. The color shadow, however, increases its sizeand number of color shadow mixing regions. The number of color shadowsincreases from 3 to 6. And the number of color shadow mixing regionsincreases from 7 to 19. Therefore, the color shadows are almost 3 timesmore colorful. In some embodiments, the wide beam color mixing light canhave six color LEDs instead of three color LEDs as discussed in FIG. 1 ,FIG. 7 , and FIG. 8 .

As previously described, color mixing light configurations can be in atriangular arrangement. However, other geometric arrangements canequally apply. In some embodiments, six color LEDs 12021 can be placedon the vertices of a hexagon. The LED separation or hexagon side 12023is fixed. A lens such as Fresnel lens 12022 is placed over the LEDs toform a narrow beam color mixing light with hexagon color LEDconfiguration in some embodiment. In some embodiment, the colors of sixLEDs can include two red LEDs, two green LEDs, and two blue LEDs. Inother embodiments, other color LED combinations can be used. Each colorLED 12021 projects a color circle 12011 in the illumination surface. Thesix color circles from the 6 color LEDs overlap to form the color mixingpattern 12010 in some embodiments. The overlap between circles are muchmore thorough than 11010 in FIG. 11 . The number of color regionsincreases from 19 to 31. In some embodiment, the wide beam color mixinglight of 7030 can use six color LEDs with configuration 11020.

In some embodiments, a lens 12022 can be replaced by a clear/transparentwindow, and the narrow beam color mixing light become a wide beam colormixing light with 6 color LEDs in a hexagon arrangement. The colormixing region is almost the same as the color region produced by threecolor LEDs because the LED illumination is wide field. Although thenumber of color shadow regions increases to 31 over the 3 colored LEDconfiguration of 11020, most of these color regions has 3rd order orhigher color shadow mixing. Color shadow mixing of order higher than 2are dark regions. So this configuration is not good for color shadoweffect.

As described herein, a pyramidal mirror assembly can have three facesfor three color LEDs. In other embodiments, a pyramidal mirror assemblywith more mirrors can be used. For example, in FIG. 13 , a 6-facedpyramidal mirror assembly 13012 with six color LEDs 13011 are used toconstruct a pyramid color mixing light 13010. The six mirrors producesix reflection patterns from six color LEDs 13021. As shown in FIG. 2 ,the reflection patterns 13021 are partial fan shapes approximatelytrapezoids. In some embodiments, the six reflection patterns overlap toproduce color mixing regions. As also shown, the color light rays thatescape mirrors form color regions 13022 outside the mirror color mixingregions 13021 in some embodiments. The six color regions 13022 alsooverlap with each other to form color mixing regions. The total numberof color regions for the six-faced pyramid color mixing light is 53.This is 1.7 time more colorful than the hexagon color mixingconfiguration 12020 of FIG. 12 . It is 3.3 times more colorful than athree-face pyramid color mixing configuration.

Although color mixing lights create multicolor pattern, color contentscannot be obtained in a control manner. For example, it is not possibleto obtain a color flower by using any of the multicolor mixing lights.In some embodiment, color contents can be created by pixelize the colormixing regions. In some embodiments, color mixing of each pixelizedregion can be controlled individually. This can be achieved by MEMSmirror arrays, microshutter arrays, liquid crystal attenuator arrays,and/or other light attenuator arrays. In order to control the colorintensity for each pixel, pixelization must be performed for each colorlight source individually in some embodiment.

In some embodiments, a plurality of MEMS mirror arrays 14021 can replacethe mirrors in a pyramidal mirror assembly color mixing light asillustrated in FIG. 14 . The three MEMS arrays 14021 shown in FIG. 4 canbe projected by the three color LEDs onto the illumination surface14010. The projected images of three MEMS mirror arrays 14011, 14012,and 14013 are shown in FIG. 14 . These pixelized color images willparticipate in color mixing in the overlap regions. There are nopixelized color images in the outer color light regions 14015, 14016,and 14017 because these are regions where light rays escape the mirrorarrays. Because of the projected MEMS images are at differentorientations, alignments of pixels between array images throughcalibration is needed in some embodiment. In some embodiment thecalibration identifies the MEMS mirror set from the three MEMS mirrorsthat reflect light to a given pixel on the illumination surface 14010.To control the color mixing of this pixel on the illumination surface14027 or 14018, a MEMS mirror 14022 can rotate to steer blue light rays14026 from pixel 14027 or 14018. The original direction of 14026 wasdotted line. The new direction is solid line. Light ray 14026 was tocolor mix with red light ray 14025 at pixel 14027 or 14018. Becausethere is less blue light in pixel 14018, its color become yellow (redplus green). Using the same method, different colors can be obtained indifferent pixels. In some embodiment, color content such as a colorflower can be created by controlling the color mixing of individualpixel in the illumination surface by using the MEMS arrays in thepyramidal mirror assembly color mixing light.

In some embodiments, microshutter arrays or the like can be positionedat, e.g., placed on, the color LEDs for pixelized color mixing. Amicroshutter operates in a similar or same way as a camera shutter. Itsaperture can be opened from 0% to 100%. It has three states: full opened15017 c, partially opened 15017 b, and fully closed 15017 a. Themicroshutter array is a collection of microshutters arranged in a planarformat. Each microshutter in the array can be controlled individually.For example, FIG. 15 shows three microshutter arrays 15011, 15012, and15013 placed over three color LEDs 15014, 15015, and 15016 to perform acolor mixing operation. The color mixing of emitted light can include anarrow beam color light or wide beam color mixing light. The 3microshutter arrays pixelize the outgoing beam patterns for the threecolor LEDs. The images of the 3 microshutter arrays 15021 are projectedonto an illumination surface where they will perform color mixing.Microshutter array images 15021 only pertain to a wide beam color mixingconfiguration. These color images will partially overlap for the narrowbeam color mixing case. The offsets among microshutter arrays areneglected. The offsets can be calibrated by using a camera or relatedsensor that processes captured images of pixels from variousmicroshutter arrays in some embodiments.

An example of an offset calibration technique performed by embodimentsof a color mixing system is illustrated in FIG. 15A, which includes acalibration setup 15010 a. A wide beam color mixing light 15011 a cancomprise three pixelized color light modules similar to those of apixelized color mixing light 25020 illustrated in FIG. 25 . Eachpixelized color light module can comprise of a color light source and amicroshutter array. The three pixelized color modules of the colormixing light 15011 a are illuminating at the screen 15013 a form threepixelized color images similar to the three images 25030 shown in FIG.25 . There are offsets among these three images causing the shiftsrelative to each other from among these images. To obtain these offsetsso that the images can be re-aligned, a color camera 15012 a is placednext to the color mixing light 15011 a to capture the reflected imagesof the illumination from the pixelized color light modules. The centerpixel is identified for all three microshutter arrays and the distancefrom each other is measured to obtain the offsets, for example, byexecuting color mixing techniques according to embodiments herein. Thered light module is turned on first. All microshutters are closed exceptthe center pixel 15024 a and two other pixels 15022 a and 15023 a. Threebright spots are on the illumination surface. A first camera image istaken of these three pixels. The locations of these three microshutterpixels 15022 a, 15023 a, and 15024 a are identified in the camera image.Next all microshutters are opened in the red light module and only thecenter microshutter is opened for both green and blue light modules. Onthe illumination surface is a red image with two spots of differentcolors 15032 a (yellow obtained from red and green) and 15033 a (magentaobtained from red and blue). These two spots are the center pixels ofthe green and blue light modules. A second image of the illuminationsurface is taken to obtain the camera image locations of these two colorspots. We know the image location of the center pixel for the red lightmodule. A pixel 15034 a is on the camera image as shown in 15030 a. Theimage distance is measured among the three center pixels. In order toconvert image distance to microshutter distance, the distancecalibration is determined between the camera and microshutter array. Thecalibration coefficients in the x and y directions are

${C_{x =}\frac{p_{{15022a} - p_{15024a}}}{i_{{15022a} - i_{15024a}}}},{C_{y = \frac{p_{{15023a} - p_{15024a}}}{i_{{15023a} - i_{15024a}}}}.}$The offsets between the red and the green are O_(x=C) _(x) _(Δ) _(x)_(RG) ^(RG), O_(y=C) _(y) _(Δ) _(y) _(RG) ^(RG), O_(x=C) _(x) _(Δ) _(x)_(RB) ^(RB), O_(y=C) _(y) _(Δ) _(y) _(RB) ^(RB), where p and i aremicroshutter array pixel and camera pixel respectively. Once themicroshutter arrays are calibrated, color mixing can be performed at thepixel level. The color intensity of each pixel for a given color can beadjusted by controlling the aperture size of the correspondingmicroshutter. The mixing color of a flower pixel 15021 can be adjustedby controlling the aperture sizes of the corresponding pixels on the 3microshutter arrays 15011, 15012, and 15013. The colors of the rest ofthe flower can be obtained in a similar manner.

In some embodiments, a liquid crystal attenuator array can be used toperform pixelized color mixing. The microshutter arrays 15011, 15012,and 15013 in FIG. 15 can be replaced by liquid crystal arrays 16011,16012, and 16013 in FIG. 16 . A liquid crystal pixel 16017 can comprisea liquid crystal phase plate 16017 b, and a pair of polarizers 16017 a.The polarizers can be in a cross orientation or parallel orientation.The phase plate 16017 b can comprise electrodes (16017 b 1 and 16017 b2) and a liquid crystal cell 16017 b 3. The phase plate 16017 b changesthe phase of a linear polarized when voltage is applied across theelectrodes 16017 b 1 and 16017 b 2. When a light beam incident on aliquid crystal pixel, one of the polarizers 16017 a let only linearpolarized light with polarization parallel to the axis of the first16017 a through. The phase plate 16017 b changes the phase of the linearpolarized light. This rotates the polarization of the light. The amountof light that can pass through the second polarizer depending on thecosine of the angle between the light polarization and the polarizationaxis of the second polarizer. By controlling the voltage, the amount oflight going through each pixel can be controlled. Therefore, pixelizedcolor mixing can be obtained. Using a similar approach taken asdescribed in FIG. 15 , color content can be produced for objects such asa color flower using a narrow beam or wide beam with respect to colormixing from various light sources.

In FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 , the microshutter array and liquid crystalattenuator array, respectively, have planar geometries. In otherembodiments, for example, illustrated in FIG. 17 a microshutter array17012 is placed over a color light source 17011. The required pixel sizefor the same angular resolution varies as 1/cos²θ, where θ is the anglebetween the pixel location vector 17016 and the optical axis 17015 ofthe light source 17011. For center pixels 17013 near the optical axis17015 of the light source 17011, the variation is small. For pixels17014 far away from the optical axis of the light source, the requiredpixel size can be large. If θ=60°, the required pixel size is 4 timesthat of the pixels near the light source. In some embodiment, amicroshutter array or a liquid crystal attenuator array can beconstructed on a geodesic dome structure 17022. The pixels 17023 can beplaced on the geodesic dome. In a sphere, an angle can be evenlydivided. The required pixel size of any pixel 17023 on the geodesic domeis the same as pixel 17024 at other place. In some embodiment, colorLEDs 17021 can be placed on the centers of a geodesic microshutterarrays or geodesic liquid crystal attenuator arrays for color mixinglights. In some embodiments, the geodesic microshutter arrays or thegeodesic liquid crystal attenuator arrays or other geodesic lightattenuator arrays can be placed over the light sources of all colormixing lights mentioned above including pyramidal mirror assembly colormixing light to create color contents.

In some embodiments, for example, shown in FIG. 18 , a holographiccontroller 18000 can be applied, for example, described in patentPCT/US17/40172. The holographic controller 18000 can comprise, but notbe limited to, a holographic projection device 18001, a camera 18002,and a beam splitter 18003. The camera field of view (FOV) direction andprojection direction of the projection device are orthogonal to eachother. The beam splitter 18003 bisects these two directions and bringthe camera FOV and holographic projector FOV together in the samedirection. In some embodiments, a beam steering mechanism 18011 can beused to shift the direction of the FOV of the holographic controller sothat the user can easily view the hologram 18006. In some embodiments,the beam steering mechanism is simply a Fresnel prism. The hologram canbe seen at a fixed vertical angle Θ. A motor can rotate the Fresnelprism so that the user can see the hologram at other azimuth angles.Different users may be of different heights. The fixed vertical angleonly allows people of the right height see the hologram easily. Otherpeople of different heights may have a difficult time viewing it. Insome embodiments, the beam steering mechanism 18011 can be a pair ofFresnel prisms called Risley prism pair that allows the user to changethe direction of the hologram both vertically and azimuthally. Thisallows users of different height to view the hologram in differentazimuth position. The Fresnel prism pair beam steering mechanism is alsoshown in FIG. 6 . Counter rotation of the prism pair can change thevertical angle, and co-rotation of the prism pair can change the azimuthangle. In some embodiments, the control panel of the color mixing lightis placed in the hologram. In some embodiments, the control panelcomprises of buttons of various hand gestures 18006. The user 18007 can‘touch’ the command button by making a hand gesture that matches thehand gesture of the corresponding button to generate a command in someembodiment. When the hand gesture 18008 is placed at the command button,the camera 18002 captures the image and send it to a processor or cloudfor processing. The captured image is compared to the stored handgestures in a hand gesture library for command coded gesture. When amatch is determined, a command is sent to the device under control 18010via the wireless network 18009. In some embodiments, the camera 18002 inFIG. 18 can be a non-contact controller in U.S. Pat. No. 9,423,879. Thebeamsplitter 18003 and the window must be thermal transmissive. Theholographic control panel will be array of control spots. User's handcan ‘touch’ the selected control spot to activate that command.

In some embodiments, multicolor mixing lights described in thisinvention can be controlled on the control panel mounted on the lightcasings. In some embodiments, the multicolor mixing lights can becontrol wirelessly by remote control or mobile devices through thewireless network. In some embodiments, the multicolor mixing lights canbe controlled by smart speakers or related audio devices. In someembodiment, the multicolor mixing lights can be controlled byholographic controller discussed above. In some embodiment, themulticolor mixing lights can be controlled by other hand gesturecontrollers or the like. Embodiments of multicolor mixing lights are notlimited to those described herein. Accordingly, other applications ofmulticolor mixing lights in accordance with some embodiments may equallyapply.

In some embodiments, a pixelized color mixing light 25020 can compriseof three pixelized color light modules (25021, 25022, 25023), anelectronic circuit board for controlling the operations of the colormixing light, and a clear window 25024 in a compact device asillustrated in FIG. 25 . Each of pixelized color light module (25021,25022, or 25023) can comprise a color light source 25011, a microshutterarray 25012, and a lens 25013 in some embodiment. In some embodiment,the three color light sources in the color light module can be red,green, and blue. In some embodiment, other color combinations can beemployed. The color light source 25011 creates a mini light source ateach pixel of the microshutter array 25012 in some embodiments. The lens25013 project this array of mini color light sources onto anillumination surface in some embodiment. A color projection 25014 is onthe illumination surface. Because each microshutter can be controlled toopen from 0% to 100%, the amount of light through each pixel can becontrolled in some embodiment. When all color light modules are inoperation, it will create three pixelized color projections 25031,25032, and 25033 in some embodiment. The three pixelized colorprojections overlap with some shifts among them. The color projectionswill mix on pixel to pixel basis in some embodiment. For example, apixel image with location(0,0) from 25031, a pixel image withlocation(2, −2) from 25032, and a pixel image with location(−2, −2) from25033 can fall on the same location, mix, and form a new color on theillumination surface. In some embodiment, by controlling the aperturesize of the corresponding pixels, the amount of light through each ofthese pixels therefore the color mixing ratio can be adjusted at thispixelized location. By controlling the color mixing for each pixel, wecan create color image of anything in some embodiment. The image shiftscan be calibrated the out using the procedure described in FIG. 15A.

In some embodiments, the color LED sources 25011 and microshutter arrays25012 can be replaced by color LED source arrays. A color LED array cancomprise a plurality of LED pixels arranged in a planar format. Theoutput of each pixel can be controlled individually. The three colorimages in 25030 will be from three color LED arrays instead ofmicroshutter arrays. Color mixing can be performed at a pixel level byvarying color light intensities of the corresponding pixels from thethree color light modules in same manner as above. As previouslydescribed in FIG. 14 , MEMS mirror arrays are used for colorpixelization of pyramidal mirror assembly color mixing light. In someembodiments, the color pixelization can occur at the light source. Insome embodiment, the color light sources in FIG. 2 can be replaced bythe color light source modules of FIG. 25 . A color light source modulecan comprise of a lens, a color light source, and a microshutter arrayin some embodiment. In other embodiment, a color light source module cancomprise of a lens, a color LED array.

In a pyramidal mirror assembly for color mixing light, the light beamsfrom the color LEDs fall into two portions: a portion that is reflectedby the mirrors and a portion that is not reflected by the mirrors. Theportion that escape the mirrors is at the outer region of the colorpattern. The well-known characteristics of light may result in thisportion extending a significant distance beyond the pyramidal mirrors.In some embodiments, the system permits this portion of light to becloser to the center region which in turn results in a more colorfulpattern or color display on a surface. In some embodiments, as shown inFIG. 26 , outer mirrors are added to redirect this portion of light beamtoward the center. More specifically, at least one outer mirror 26012 isadded to the original light assembly comprising of a pyramid mirror26011 and color LED light sources 26013. Light beam 26014 is reflectedinto the center region 26016 by the pyramid mirror. Light beam 26015escapes the pyramid mirror would have gone further outside is nowreflected by outer mirror 26012 to an outer region 26017 closer to thecenter region. Accordingly, the presence of outer mirrors in addition toa pyramidal mirror assembly color mixing light results in outer orperipheral color regions closer to a center region, in accordance withsome embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A color mixing light system, comprising: apyramidal mirror assembly comprising three or more mirrors constructedand arranged in a pyramid structure; three or more color light sourcemodules, wherein the pyramidal mirror assembly divides the light beamsfrom the color light source modules so that a first portion is reflectedby the mirrors and a second portion extends beyond the mirrors tocollectively form a multicolor pattern comprising a plurality ofoverlapping color regions on a surface and create color shadows ofilluminated objects on the surface, wherein an output of the three ormore color light source modules at the pyramidal mirror assemblyproduces color mixing for forming the multicolor pattern and the colorshadows of the illuminated objects on the surface.
 2. The color mixinglight system of claim 1, further comprising: a controller that controlsthe color mixing light system to form the multicolor pattern andprovides communications between the color mixing light system and atleast one remote control mobile device via a wired or wireless network.3. The color mixing light system of claim 2, wherein the controllerincludes an electronic circuit that controls the three or more colorlight source modules individually to change colors of the multicolorpattern.
 4. The color mixing light system of claim 1, further comprisingthree or more white light source modules added to the pyramidal mirrorassembly color mixing light.
 5. The color mixing light system of claim1, further comprising a controller that pivots the mirrors so that ashape, size, intensity, color, or a combination of characteristics ofthe color mixing pattern can be changed.
 6. The color mixing lightsystem of claim 1, wherein the mirrors include Micro-Electro-MechanicalSystems (MEMS) mirror arrays that control a color of an output of thecolor light source modules at a pixel level.
 7. The color mixing lightsystem of claim 1, further comprising a beam steering mechanism forsteering the multicolor pattern to a desired position.
 8. The colormixing light system of claim 7, wherein the beam steering mechanismincludes a Fresnel prism pair.
 9. The color mixing light system of claim1, wherein each of the color light source modules comprises a lens, amicroshutter array, and a color light source.
 10. The color mixing lightsystem of claim 1, wherein each of the color light source modulescomprises a lens and a color LED array.
 11. The color mixing lightsystem of claim 1, further comprising an outer mirror that reflects thesecond portion of the light beams that misses the pyramid mirrorassembly toward a center region to increase color mixing regions. 12.The color mixing light system of claim 1, wherein the color mixing lightsystem is controlled by at least one of a wireless device, a holographiccontroller, or other hand gesture controller device.
 13. The colormixing light system of claim 1, further comprising an aperture platewith various aperture shapes placed on an aperture of the color mixinglights to create multicolored projections.
 14. A narrow beam colormixing light system, comprising: three or more color LED modules; aclear window; a beam steering mechanism for steering a multicolorpattern comprising a plurality of color regions formed by color mixinglight emitted by the color LED modules; and a circuit board thatcontrols an operation of the color mixing light, wherein the color LEDmodules are adjusted individually to create different colors for themulticolor pattern and provide a steerable, deformable, and colorchanging multicolor pattern, and color shadows are produced.
 15. Thenarrow beam color mixing light system of claim 14, wherein the color LEDmodules move back and forth by a linear motion mechanism for changing ashape, color, and size of the multicolor pattern.
 16. The narrow beamcolor mixing light system of claim 14, further comprising lenses, MEMSmirror arrays, microshutter arrays, liquid crystal attenuator arrays, orother light attenuator arrays positioned over the color LED modules togenerate a plurality of RGB projection pixel arrays and allow colormixing to be performed at a pixel level by varying color intensities forpixels of overlapping pixelized projections for generating colorcontents.
 17. The narrow beam color mixing light system of claim 14,wherein the color LED modules further comprises color LED arrays forgenerating color contents.
 18. A method of color mixing performed by alight system, comprising: constructing and arranging three or moremirrors in a pyramid structure; constructing and arranging three or morecolor light source modules proximal the pyramid structure; directing, bythe three or more, color light source modules, light beams at thepyramid structure; dividing, by the pyramid structure, the light beamsfrom the color light source modules so that a first portion is reflectedby the mirrors and a second portion extends beyond the mirrors tocollectively form a multicolor pattern comprising a plurality ofoverlapping color regions on a surface and create color shadows ofilluminated objects on the surface.